: a reservoir or canal from which water is taken to run equipment (such as a waterwheel or turbine)
Examples of forebay in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
The 1,100 acres of J.G. Boswell’s land, a small portion of the company’s vast croplands, would provide a strategic location for a low-lying forebay to take in floodwaters from the Kings and Tule rivers and pump water into the reservoir, Ennis said.
—
Ian James, Los Angeles Times, 3 July 2025
Water flows from the Delta through a series of gates into the shallow, 2-mile-wide forebay as a staging area for the pumps.
—Denis Cuff, The Mercury News, 15 Mar. 2017
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to
show current usage.
Read More
Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors.
Send us feedback.
Ian James, Los Angeles Times, 3 July 2025
Water flows from the Delta through a series of gates into the shallow, 2-mile-wide forebay as a staging area for the pumps.
—Denis Cuff, The Mercury News, 15 Mar. 2017
Cite this Entry
“Forebay.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/forebay. Accessed 1 Apr. 2026.
Copy CitationLove words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
